Click here to observe HARD WORK.
After the man did the "fluffing," his partner (woman) put the material inside the lining, and smoothed it out......... right out there on the sidewalk.
This "blind-guy band" regularly plays (very well), outside the Shapingba bus station.
This is my very sweet, and very STRONG, massage therapist. She has been trained to do
acupressure massage,
and really gives my muscles a work-out, every Friday afternoon.
Chris's weekly therapist is a really STRONG blind guy, as massage is often an occupation for the visually-impaired.
The cost for a one-hour, full-body massage is only $5, so we always give them a 70 % tip, too.
Corn is also available from street vendors. Yummmmm. The problem, though, is that there is certainly no butter, nor salt, for the (always very tough) corn.
As a matter of fact, we are able to get butter and cheese only very rarely, in our biggest supermarket. (Cheddar cheese only twice this year, for instance!)
This scene is extremely common in China: A worker is breaking out a tiled walkway, only to replace it the following week with tiles that (to us) seem exactly the same...........??????
Another common activity is plaza-dancing, or doing Tai chi in groups, like this. Great exercise and social time for the neighborhood.
***Whenever I come upon a dance group, I make it a point to join in, just for two or three songs......
Fresh vegetables are always available. But, Chinese vegetables must be cooked.....well......until all are limp and soggy.
This HOT POT , with heating element underneath it, is recessed, right into the middle of the dining table. One side is made spicy, for Chris, and the other side is mild, for me. Meats and vegetables are boiled in each side.
This is an example of a favorite kind of meat.........It is the stomach of some kind of animal, we were told.
Over near one of the many universities of Chongqing, there is a new Rasta-Bar. It was fun to drink Jamaican drinks and listen to Bob Marley music.....
We thought that this place might be fun, but it was dark and gloomy inside.
We visited another bar, tried to order a screw-driver (just orange juice with some vodka), were told that one drink would cost $55 (US), and so promptly walked out..... (Guess that they aren't interested in having "foreigners" visit there.)
This character is common, with body parts of many different animals:
Chongqing was the location for many historic and tragic events during WW II, and then continuing on during the Chinese Civil War that followed.
There are special museums and parks, devoted to the memory of some of the victims of the civil war.
This memorial wall is similar to our VietNam War memorial-wall in Washington, D.C..
We spent one day checking out the prisons that housed "communist rebels" during the civil war years.
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| This man was very thoughtful. We wondered about his story of life during such a turbulent time. |
November 27, 1949
was the date that many Communist-party prisoners (of all ages) were massacred by their Kuomintang captors. Hundreds of people were killed, most while still in their prison cells.
The prison museums tell the individual stories, though most were only written in Chinese.
We'll plan to read this book, to learn more about the history of 20th century China.
There are Air-Raid Shelters,
all around Chongqing:
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| These university students helped us find our way from one prison-camp to another. They had studied English for 10 years, and yet this was the first time that they had had the opportunity to use it, speaking to real-live "foreigners"!! |
Zhazidong Prison:
Again, most of the victims were killed during the November, 1949, Massacre:
The prison cells reminded me of the concentration camps of Nazi Germany......except that these actually seemed much nicer.
Tools of torture, on display.
*** We have recently been reading about the Catholic Church in Europe, during the dark and middle ages, and their methods of torturing and murdering "protestants" .......makes some of what we've seen here in China seem mild!
This museum-building houses many artifacts concerning WW II and the 1949 Massacre.
America has plenty of history in China. One chapter involves America's
"Flying Tigers."
This date is to Chongqing
as September 11, 2001, is to New York City.
